Garment press retainer



w. L. PAYNE 25 GARMENT PRESS RETAINER Filed May 17, 1949 FIG. 2 Fl.

IN V EN TOR.

lV/LL/AM A. PAYNE,

Patented Oct. 10, 1950 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE 2,524,989 I V V GARMENT PRESS RETAINER William Ii. Payne, Culver City, Calif. Application May 17, 1949, Serial No. 93,744

This invention relates to meansfor holdingthe pressed creases on garments, such as trousers,

coats and the like, and particularly to garment press retainers which I prefer to term Perma- Press. l a

The main object of my invention is to apply means to a garment which will retain the pressed creases in pristine condition while being wholly concealed and unobtrusive in use. i

It is also an object to have such elastic retaining links of such nature, arrangement, form and size that a garmentequipped therewith in no way reveals any bulge or irregularity in form or suffers any disadvantage from the presence of the links within the same. i

Apractical object is, of course, to have such press or crease-retaining means which may be made and sold at a very reasonable figure to enco'uragewide distribution thereof.

Other objects and advantages will appear in furtherdetail as the specification proceeds.

In order to' facilitate ready comprehension of this invention for a proper appreciation of the .2. Claims. (01. 2 -24a) 2 7 portion of a trouser leg with the backing strip in place and the resilient retaining links thereon being applied to the corresponding inner sides of the trouser leg within the crease or ridge form-e ing the junction of the mentioned sides; Figure 6 is another fragmentary section ofsubstantially the same portion of the trouser leg after the retaining links havebeen applied and the backing strip or card removed;

Figure? is a perspective view of one of the re? silientr'etaining links of the invention;

salient features thereof, the invention illus trated n the accompanying-drawing forming part hereof, and in'which:

Figure 1 is a front elevation of a pair of trousers wherein the creases on the two legs thereof are maintained by garment'press retainers made according to the invention and-embodying the same in a practical form, a portion'of one leg being broken away to disclose part of a series of links of 'the invention within the garment;

Figure 2 is an enlarged elevation of a backing strip or card upon which a series of resilient retain-l ng links are mounted prior to application to a garment;

Figure 3 is another elevation the same backing strip or card when folded along the center of i 'Ihroughout the Views, the same reference numerals indicate the same or like parts. One of the requirements of such garments as coats, trousers and thelike is that for maintaine ing proper appearance they must be smoothly ironed and properly creased, the coats atwthe 'frontand rear :portions of the sleeves thereof, while upon trousers the front and rear portions of each trouser leg should disclose a, straight crease. When such garments are worn, however, the crease is'rapidly altered and partly disappears-greatly tothedetriment of the appearance of the garment involved. I am, of course, aware that many expedients have been resorted'to for restoring or maintaining the proper press and creases of trousers and coats, butordinarily the only manner in which the crease is restored and the garment maintained in properly pressedccom dition'is tohave the pressing done over. again repeatedly and frequently, even though this sub jects the garment to wear and tear, and thuszthe whole situation presents a problem.- i Upon; considering this problem, it has occurre to me that meansshould beavailable for-insertion within the garments involved without in any way impeding the movementsof the person wear ing them or externally revealing the presence of the mentioned means, the latter-being effective toretain the creases on the garments sharp and straight as originally applied thereto. As a result of such consideration, I have succeeded in producing garment press or "crease retainers, aswill now be more fully des'cribed. I

Hence, in the practice of my invention, and referring again to thedr'awing, apair of trousers, generally indicated at 8, is provided in a conven tional mannerj'with a pair of trouser legs 9 and Ill terminatingat the bottomji f so desired, in a pair of'conventional cuffs H and l2. As the'view Figure 1 is a front elevation, the front central portions of both trouser legsare provided with pressedcreases I3, 'l lextending the entire length of both legs down to'a'nd including cuffs I l and I these less immediately at either side of the creases forming the converging front side portions [5, l6, l1 and 18, respectively. Naturally, at the rear, both legs 9 and II] are similarly creased.

In order to maintain the pressed creases on the mentioned trouser legs, upon the inside of each leg immediately within the crease thereon is disposed a series of transversely-arranged elastic natural or artificial rubber or plastic links disposed in a vertical row in such fashion as to bridge the crease itself, as generally indicated at IS, the individual links being indicated by 2|]. In Figure 1, the links actually shown are disposed adjacent the rear crease 2| of the leg 9, but the front crease I3 is similarly equipped, as will now be discussed in greater detail.

The links 20 are initially mounted on a strip or backing card 22 which is provided with a central fold line 23 and at both sides of the vertical line 23 with a plurality of raised relief sections 24, 24, 25, arranged in vertical series along thetwo sides 26, 21 of the backing strip 22. Intermediate each pair of projecting relief portions 24 and 25 the backing strip is depressed to form a transverse recess 28. Upon each pair of relief sections 24 and 25 are attached the enlarged disc-shaped ends 29, of a link 20 interconnected by an intermediate narrower strip 3| which bridges'the distance between projections 24 and 25 and the intermediate fold line 23 of backing strip 22, while being wholly out of contact with the strip intermediatethe projections due to the presence of the rearwardly-impressed recess 28. The backing strip or card 22, aside fromhaving the central fold line 23, is also provided with transverse weakened lines 32, 32 at regular intervals along the vertical length thereof to facilitate tearing off the proper length of backing strip to accommodate the full length of a trouser leg, for example,

this backing strip having naturally the requisite number of links 20 spaced along the same to accommodate the length of the trouser leg according to the length of the strip thus torn off.

Preferably, each of the elastic links 20 is under tension so that the intermediate narrow portion 3| thereof readily sinks into the transverse recess 28 when the backing strip 22 is bent along line 23, as best shown in Figure 3. When a proper length of such backing strip has been torn off, the same is introduced into the trouser leg 9, for example, as shown in Figure 5, with the disc-shaped ends 29 and 30 of the links disposed upon the raised portions 24 and 25 in contact with the fabric of the two sides [5 and 16 of leg 9 at both sides of the ridge or crease l3. When the trouser leg is then pressed by a hot iron or pressing machine,

the ends 29 and 3B of the links are virtually cemented and vulcanized to the interior sides l5 and [6 at both sides of crease l3, while the intermediate linking strip or portion 31 of each link remains out of actual contact with the fabric. When the pressing operation has been performed so that both ends of the entire series of links 20 adhere to the inner sides of side portions I 5 and [6 of the trouser leg adjacent the front crease [3,

the strip 22 may be removed by pulling the same free of the links when the tension of the interthe sections to correspond to the length of the crease to be retained or maintained thereby, and the links 20 ma be made of natural or artificial rubber, plastic or any suitable material of an elastic nature, and which can be caused to adhere to the fabric to be creased, while the backing strip 22 may be made of paper, cardboard, fiber, or even plastic, if so desired.

Manifestly, variations may be resorted to and parts and features may be modified or used without others within the scope of the appended claims.

Having now fully described my invention, I claim:

1. A crease retaining device for garments comprising a backing strip having a fold line extending longitudinally intermediate the sides thereof, there being a first series of aligned spaced raised relief sections extending longitudinally of said backing strip on one side of the fold line of the latter, there being a second series of aligned spaced raised relief sections extending longitudinally of the backing strip on the other side of the fold line of the latter, the relief sections of said first and second series being in alignment with each other, the portions of said backing strip intermediate aligned opposed pairs of relief sections of said first and second series being depressed to thereby form transversely disposed recesses, and a link fabricated of elastic material extending between adjacent aligned opposed pairs of relief sections of said first and second series and having its end bearing against and temporarily secured to said sections with the connecting portion overlying the adjacent transverse recess.

2. A crease retaining device for garments comprising a backing strip having a fold line extending longitudinally intermediate the sides thereof, there being a first series of aligned spaced raised relief sections extending longitudinally of said backing strip on one side of the fold line of the latter, there being asecond series of aligned spaced raised relief sections extending longitudinally of the backing strip on the other side of the fold line of the latter, the relief sections of said first and second series being in alignment with each other, the portions of said backing strip intermediate aligned opposed pairs of relief sections of said first and second series being depressed to thereby form transversely disposed recesses, and a link fabricated of elastic material extending between adjacent aligned opposed pairs of relief sections of said first and second series and having its end bearing against and temporarily secured to said sections with the connecting portion overlying the adjacent transverse recess, said backing strip being provided with a plurality of transversely disposed weakened lines, each of such lines extending between adjacent opposed pairs of raised sections of said firstand-second series.

WILLIAM L. PAYNE.

REFERENCES ClTED UNITED STATES PATENTS 7 Name' Date Meyer Sept. 1fl,19 l8 Number 

